Tentative summary
This series is the story of an energetic and slightly brash tomboy girl with a terminal disease who came across a depressed and unmotivated immortal dude who, for some reason, manage to get through his rut, decides to find a cure for her. But to do so, the two protagonists will need to explore the entire continent to find the missing pieces. Throughout the journey, powerful antagonist forces strike, unexpected comrades join the party, and a surprising plot twist.
Tentative review
Since the main developments seem to be mostly "Travelling across the continent", going from waypoints to waypoints. It would be mostly appropriate to consider this a traversal series.
Generally speaking, traversal series have this soothing, lonely vibes. It feels kinda close to the vibes when you play an open-world fantasy exploration adventure game. It feels long, expansive, and vast. You "feel" it during the "journey".
However, the author likes to present very strong opponents which also makes this series action centric. But at the same time, it also raises the stakes and the tension plenty-more so it's not necessarily a bad decision. (THIS IS AN AUTHOR THAT LIKES TO KILL NAMED CHARACTERS THAT ARE RELEVANT TO THE PLOT SO BE ON YOUR GUARDS FOR YOUR FAVS) It also makes things very unpredictable, so you don't know who's going to die. It can get exhilarating at times.
This design decision of including high stakes action is not always a bad idea, however to me it does take it away from the vibes. Because the action scenes LAST VERY LONG (power system explanation is on HxH-tier in terms of long-windedness).
So, the way the action is depicted here, feels like it kind of detracts from the strong traversal, philosophical vibes that it is going for (more on the later half).
However, it can also be argued that maybe the author knows their strengths (to create epic fights), so it is not necessarily a bad decision. But the problem is, sometimes, the reason why they have a fight can feel like... not very rational and illogical (like they can just talk it out instead of fighting to the death) so it can seem dumb at times for forcing a dramatic turnout. It feels kinda cheap when such fights do engage (the author mostly fixed this in their next series, the Ember Knight).
Other flaws include:
Power ups feels abrupt and "out of necessity" for the protagonist to grow in order to advance the story. Certain characters are too strongly developed for when it comes to the motives and sidetracks a bit the main story.
The "spin-off" side stories, available to read at the end of the "main story", while contained, feel more "complete" to read on their own, than trying to be integrated during the "main story".
All and all, it's still a decent series, a bit unique with a strange direction that doesn't feel the most cohesive. I'm glad that the author has taken what they have learnt from this and eliminate most "issues" seen in here in their next series.
The world building is unique, intriguing, and makes you feel invested in the side cast and the spin-offs quite a lot!
Worth a read? If you don't mind the flaws, enjoy unexpected turnouts, an "underdog" and atypical way to fight (like presented in the author's other series), you'll like this. If you enjoy OP power fantasies where nobody can touch the MC, you'll probably not enjoy this as much.
Closing remarks (for those of you that have plenty of time to waste)
The characters just tag along casually is kinda weird but good fun.
It's worth your time if you want to chill and cruise along while not minding some actions here and there. The power system jargon is really long winded and can be off-putting. (I would have preferred that to be off-screened like put in the extra content page; but it is an interesting narrative choice). It feels like the author has a very analytical mind, kinda reminds me of Liar Game and HxH... DURING THE LONG-WINDED OMNISCIENT NARRATIVE SECTIONS. It is quite, unique? Since I don't across this type of voice often, I find it interesting. Far from usual "shounen" series, it has this weird "maturity" that puts it closer to a "seinen" series (but when the action sequences hit, it becomes closer to a "shounen" series---well more like a shounen-seinen hybrid like Kengan Asura...)
The author really likes the shield.
Flawed and endearing characters. I feel like the author puts great care in showing the named characters. Human connections and forming relationships are a main thematic here. There's also quite a lot of "growth(?", well it's actually closer to "self realization"? Which is kinda rare for "shounen" (so that's why I don't consider it as shounen).
The plot twist is intriguing, I feel more or less satisfied at the ending and it ties most things well together. (There's some random BS but that's beyond the point of the plot and the author has addressed that in the afterwords anyway if you can make it that far)
WORTH THE READ? If you enjoy "similar" series stated below, you'll probably like it.
Closest series in terms of vibes
To You, The Immortal (pre contemporary and future arcs), manga <- similarity: "human connection"; also, I like the "action" there better; image this series is like that, but with DBZ and Bleach level of action... yeah it'll kinda feel, a bit strange...
About Death, manhwa <- similarity: overall vibes; it has a very similar vibe when there's no action
Kengan Asura (and some other boxing series) AND World Trigger <- similarity: level of technicalities when there's action... like imagine these series, but instead of their world-specific weapons, you have fantasy unique weapons.
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